compare the theme of isolation in 'The Furnished Room' to our own sense of isolation in the time of covid-19
Answers
Answer:The Furnished Room'
A tragic tale of lost love and broken faith is what the author O. Henry serves up to us in the dark tale, 'The Furnished Room.' This story follows a desperate young man on the hunt for his female companion. Weary, he finds a furnished room in which to rest, but no rest comes. The room reminds him of the woman, and he quizzes the housekeeper incessantly about its former tenants. Ultimately, his will is broken, and he sets out to kill himself in the room. Unbeknownst to him, it's the same room where the young woman likely met her own tragic end.
This moving and complex tale is full of rich thematic possibilities: the overpowering qualities of obsession, the pain of separation or isolation, the loss of hope, and even the notion of adventure versus the simple life.
In this lesson, we'll take a look at some of these theme possibilities and how they are interwoven in the story.
Themes in 'The Furnished Room'
For such a short story, 'The Furnished Room' certainly gives readers a lot to think about. Here are some ideas of themes we can glean from the text.
Obsession
The vigor in which the young man has been searching for the woman (something we learn at the outset of the story) suggests a level of obsession in his actions. He has been searching for this woman for a lengthy period of time, visiting eleven other locations before stopping at the twelfth. We know it's been a substantial period of time because the story tells us he rested his baggage on the step and 'wiped the dust from his hatband and forehead.' He mentions later it has been five months since he started looking. He clearly does not want to give up his quest.
Later in the story, we see the man's repeated, almost frantic, questioning of the housekeeper, asking her the same questions multiple times about the room's former tenants and who has visited the location.
Separation/Isolation
What has drawn the man into his obsessive searching is his separation from his lost love. He is willing to travel an area mostly inhabited by transients, in a less desirable part of town, in an attempt to locate her. We know he is fueled by this separation because the story tells us he is out one evening after dark, prowling around 'crumbling red mansions, ringing their bells.' When he comes across the housekeeper, he describes as an ''unwholesome, surfeited worm.''
He faces another type of isolation when he accepts the empty room the housekeeper has to offer and is left alone for the evening. Left alone with his thoughts, he starts obsessing over the tiniest details: the chipped furniture, small fingerprints, even tokens left behind by other guests. He listens to noises and conversations taking place in other rooms in the building. Ultimately, trapped in his own mind, he starts to go a bit crazy, thinking he smells the woman's fragrance, turning the room upside down looking for some clue that will lead him to her.
Later, after his hope has been lost and he is left to face the world alone, he takes his own life
Explanation:
why was the young man prowling through the crumbling red mansions?